VALSOUNDS – Reflections on the digital reconstruction of soundscapes

VALSOUNDS (2023-25) is a transdisciplinary ERC-funded project that connects acoustics, architectural history, historical musicology, and early-music performance.

The primary objective of VALSOUNDS was to digitally re-create, with the maximum historical accuracy possible, the acoustic environments of early Valois (c. 1400) residences (chapel and oratory; chambre à parer), and make these sounds audible again through digital means. The lecture will showcase the various stages of the research process and the auralizations created by the project, and discuss the potential impact of archaeo-acoustic research for the arts- and history-related humanities disciplines, and for our approach to cultural heritage. 

Prof. Dr. Karl Kügle, the Principal Investigator (PI) of VALSOUNDS, is Director of Research in the Faculty of Music at Oxford University and a Senior Research Fellow of Wadham College. Until 2023, he also held the Chair in the History of Music before 1800 at Utrecht University where he is now an emeritus. 

In Zusammenarbeit mit der Basler Ortsgruppe der Schweizerischen Musikforschenden Gesellschaft